Food is one of the essential resources needed to survive in 7 Days to Die. Because of the game’s hunger and thirst mechanic, players need to keep their hunger and thirst levels in check from time to time to make sure that they do not succumb to starvation or thirst. Knowing how to obtain a stable supply of food is one of the challenges that players must face, so learning the secrets of doing so will effectively raise the survival rate in a playthrough.
Read ahead as we talk all about food in 7 Days to Die, what the best food items are to get, and how to obtain them.
How to get Food easily in 7 Days to Die
There are several ways of getting food depending on how far you have progressed through a world and how much your character has unlocked skill-wise and technology-wise. For this guide, we’ll start off with the basics and talk about the methods that work best from the early game, all the way to the end game.
Foraging and Looting
When you first start off a new game, you have very little on your character, so foraging and looting will be one of your main sources of food. Consider picking up every blueberry, mushroom, or egg that you find in the wild to secure a good stock of food as you slowly improve your arsenal and establish a safe base.
Venturing in abandoned houses and looking for canned food items or looting crate boxes is also a great way to obtain good amounts of food. Farms are also a good place to check from time to time to forage for crops and vegetables.
Hunting
After arming yourself with the right gear and weapon, you can then venture out and take on the wildlife that you encounter in the world. It’s recommended to have a ranged weapon like a bow or even a firearm to kill your target animal and a melee weapon like a hunting knife or a machete to dress them and get the materials from their carcasses.
Considering investing points on The Huntsman skill early on to get increased amounts of meat and other materials from your hunted prey.
Purchasing from vending machines
As you try to survive in the world, you will still be earning some money from doing jobs given by NPCs. You can then use this money to purchase food from Trader Rekt or from vending machines within the town. The food items that you can get from these transactions are usually processed food and full meals that can give you buffs or at least good enough to not get you sick.
It’s recommended to only buy food when stocks are critically low as money is better saved and spent on other stuff such as armor, weapons, and vehicles.
Farming
Farming is the ultimate goal when it comes to sustainability in this game as you will have a stable supply of food that you can grow from your own farm. It is highly recommended to spend some points towards the Living off the Land skill which increases the amount of items that you can get from harvesting, and decreases the costs of crafting farm plots.
Establishing a base and starting off a small farm can easily improve your chances of survival, or at least makes it almost impossible for you to die from starvation.
What is the best food source in 7 Days to Die?
One of the best food source to obtain in the game is the Yucca Fruit due to its ability to satiate both your hunger and thirst at the same time. Which is why, as counter-intuitive as it may sound, starting off in the Desert biome gives you more chances of surviving than the rest of the biomes; the caveat is that it’s only viable in the early parts of the game. It’s still an indispensable food item to have in the first few weeks.
Once you have access to cooking equipment, you can then move up to making dishes. The starter dishes to go for are Bacon and Eggs which maximizes the amount of gains that you get from just eating eggs alone, and Charred Meat – a dish that can be done quickly, but is only considered as a handy emergency food as it can cause dehydration.
The more filling advanced recipes that you can go for are the stews, such as the Vegetable Stew, Meat Stew, or Gumbo Stew which is considered one of the best recipes you can go for. To make it better, you can even learn the Hobo Stew which allows you to use rotting flesh and turn it into a filling dish that doesn’t have any negative effects.
Does food go bad in 7 Days to Die?
In the current build of the game, any food item in the game does not spoil nor decay. So you’ll be safe just keeping fresh ingredients or cooked dishes in your inventory or your stashes without worrying about them going bad. There are third-party mods that can be installed in the game that can add the spoilage mechanic and add a bit more challenge when it comes to food management.
Where to find recipes in 7 Days to Die?
The food recipe mechanic in the game is tied to the Master Chef skill, where each tier of the skill will unlock more advanced recipes. Here are the list of recipes that can be unlocked per tier:
- Tier 1: Bachelor
- Bacon and Eggs
- Boiled Meat
- Grilled Meat
- Baked Potato
- Corn Bread
- Coffee
- Tier 2: Grandma
- Steak and Potato Meal
- Meat Stew
- Vegetable Stew
- Blueberry Pie
- Tier 3: Short Order Cook
- Sham Chowder
- Hobo Stew
- Chili Dog
- Fish Tacos
- Yucca Juice Smoothie
- Beer
- Tier 4: Army Cook
- Gumbo Stew
- Shepards Pie
- Spaghetti
- Tuna Fish Gravy Toast